Chapter Fifty-Five - Fury

The fight was going... well, it was going. Jazz could feel sweat clinging to her shirt along her armpits and her lower back. A spare thought crossed her mind, hoping that her jacket covered the stains so that no one would see. It'd be humiliating.

Her last order was playing out ahead of her now, Bellsprout's Acid, still a newer move but one they'd been working hard on, was splashing Poison-type goop all over the already-poisoned Scyther.

"Nice move," Bugsy said. "Fury Cutter."

Jazz winced. The slicing attack slashed some of Bellsprout's Wrap vines right off and sent her little guy flopping back. He looked rough, like, in a bad shape rough. "Are you good, Bell?" she asked.

"Bellsprout!" he called back an affirmative. He even gave her a stunted little wiggle.

She licked her lips, then glared at the scyther. It was in a bad state, but still going. "Stun spore, let's end this," she said.

It was a lie. She didn't intend to end anything. The Stun Spore was a great way to stall the fight. Bugsy would either have to take a huge risk that might paralyse his pokemon, or use that wind move to clear out the spores, giving her more time, and giving the poison more time too.

Time was her enemy, now.

And Bugsy. "Get in with a Quick Attack," he said.

Jazz gasped as the scyther blurred forwards and slammed into Bellsprout sending him flying back. "But, the spores!" she said. She hadn't intended to say it, but Bugsy just shrugged.

"We use Poison Powder and Stun Spore all the time here," he said. "Lots of bugs know the move, and so we train to resist the effects as best we can since they tend to linger. It's never fun to take out an ally with your own lingering move."

"Dammit," Jazz muttered. It wasn't too dissimilar to some things she'd heard. She was even doing the same with Sage's Hypnosis. "Bellsprout, Acid when he gets close."

"Hmm, Quick Attack again," Bugsy said.

The scyther grinned cruelly, then leapt forwards... only to duck to the side, entirely dodging the Acid that Bellsprout spat.

The humming? Was it a code word, or was the pokemon just clever that way?

Jazz winced again as Bellsprout was struck again and sent flying back. He rolled, then laid still. Her heart felt crushed in her chest for a moment. "I'm sorry, Bell," she said.

"Bellsprout is unable to ba—"

"Bell!" Bellsprout interrupted. He climbed up, standing on shaky roots that could barely hold him up.

He fell, crashing to the gym floor.

The referee cleared his throat and Jazz hung her head. "Bellsprout is unable to—"

"BellSPROUT!" Bellsprout shouted even as he forced himself up through the tears in his little eyes. "Bell... bell sprout!"

And then, he glowed.

Jazz's grip on the barrier in front of her was so hard her fingers hurt, and her eyes burned as she stared into the glow, but there was no blinking, no missing this.

"Bell, Weeeeepinbell!" Weepinbell said as he appeared out of the evolution's light. A large yellowish bell-shaped flower, not too dissimilar to a bellsprout, but much larger, with bigger, more pronounced eyes, and large leaves on the sides of its head.

"Bell!" Jazz shouted.

"Bell!" Weepinbell replied happily. He was still banged up, but he wasn't giving up so easily.

"Congratulations!" Bugsy said, sounding genuinely happy. "Ref, I think we can call the unable to battle order a miscall?"

"Agreed," the referee replied.

Jazz grinned. Suddenly, it felt like all the momentum was on her side. "Bell, Vine Whip!"

The scyther was still damned quick, but Bell was giving it his all, and when he got a smack to the face, the scyther was flung back in turn. Weepinbell bounced forwards, sagged, then fired another Vine Whip that finally took the scyther out.

"Scyther is unable to battle," the referee said. "Gym leader, send out your next pokemon."

"I'm recalling Bell—Weepingbell," Jazz said. He was in a rough spot, and she needed Zubat to have a victory too.

"Alright," Bugsy said. "Go, Kakuna!"

A large pale orange cocoon of a pokemon appeared on the far end of the arena.

Jazz sighed. If that pokemon evolved, it would be a nightmare to deal with. But as it was... Kakuna was a Bug and Poison-type pokemon. She could handle that."Go, Zubat! Take it out."

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Zubat appeared with a cry, and soon the battle began once more. This time, she didn't give up her momentum. "Supersonic!" she shouted. It was the best and easiest opening for Zubat, at least until he learned some more ranged moves.

"Poison Sting," Bugsy said.

Zubat grunted as he was hit by a stinger, but he wasn't going to be poisoned, not one of her pokemon. "Astonish, then Poison Fang him!"

"String Shot, slow it down," Bugsy said.

Jazz grinned as Zubat swooped in, ignoring the sting now coating his still-injured form. He launched an Astonish right in the bug's face, then clamped down, biting the kakuna hard.

A few shakes of his head later, and the kakuna was down.

Jazz felt her heartbeat stabilise. Good, this was good. She wasn't on the backfoot anymore. "Zubat, I'm recalling you," she said after the referee declared the kakuna unable to battle.

"Miss Poison, that would be more than your allotted number of switches," the referee warned.

"I know, Zubat's hurt though. Besides, I have someone for Bugsy's last pokemon." The referee nodded and Jazz recalled Zubat. "Well done," she whispered to his pokeball. And then Bugsy sent out his metapod once more.

Jazz grinned as she sent out Sage.

"Ah, well, that's awkward," Bugsy said.

She'd scoped out his pokemon. The scyther would have been a terrible match for Sage, but his metapod?

"Did you really want to do this, Gym Leader Bugsy?" she asked.

"Gassss!" Sage hissed.

"No, I don't think I do," Bugsy said. "I forfeit! Well done! I knew you could do it!"

She frowned. Having her opponent encourage her somehow made the victory taste sour.

Still... she'd won! Bellsprout was a weepinbell! Zubat had gotten his victory and... well, she didn't get to show off Sage's Hex which they'd worked so hard on, but that just meant she'd get to keep that card up her sleeve for next time!

Jazz grinned as she made her way to the centre of the gym where Bugsy shook her hand. He had a much easier smile here. "Congratulations! Sorry for pulling out a few more advanced tactics, but my job is to challenge you a little."

"It's fine," Jazz said. "So, is that the level of difficulty I can expect going forwards?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, but with third-badge pokemon instead of second. Imagine more dirty tricks, but with more fully-evolved pokemon with bigger move repertoires. I think it's a good hint at what's to come."

"Ah, okay," she said.

"Anyway! Congratulations. As the leader of the Azalea Town Gym, I'm proud to present you... the Hive Badge! And a few pokedollars as well, oh, and I can't forget, we've got these nice single-use TMs to hand out too! This is Fury Cutter, a move I'm sure you saw me use today!"

"Thank you," Jazz said. Money! They'd get to restock and actually eat food that wasn't the cheapest for a little while. A very little while, because Goldenrod city was going to be expensive. "You're a lot more confident over here, it suits you."

"I-I-I am?" he immediately stuttered. "I mean, yeah, I am." Bugsy tried to recuperate by puffing his chest out but... well, she supposed he was cute enough... for a gross bug-loving boy.

Jazz shook his hand, pinned her badge to the inside of her coat, and then made sure her Trainer ID was updated. Two badges wasn't much, but it was a solid start.

And with that all out of the way, she turned and headed back out the back of the arena where she ran hug-first into Broccoli. "You did it!" Broccoli cheered as she bounced.

Jazz laughed. "Yeah! I did! But hey, don't get too excited, it's your turn next you know?"

"Right!" Broccoli said. "The nice gym trainer said it'll take ten minutes to reset the arena and then it's our turn! But don't worry, we're all ready!"

"Bun!"

"Ma!"

Jazz smiled. She was maybe letting the excitement get to her. There was a sort of... cooling feeling as the adrenaline of the fight leaked out of her. It was nice. "Well, give him hell. He pulled a few fast ones on me, so expect the same, alright?"

"Got it!" Broccoli said. "Don't worry so much, even if we don't win, we'll still do our best." Broccoli gasped. "Oh! I saw Bell explode!"

"Evolve."

"Yes! It was incredible! We have to say hi to him all over again, and give him hugs! Will his name change like Marill's did?"

"Uh, how about we see to that after your battle?" Jazz said.

Sometimes Broccoli could be a bit much.

***